Fear not, 3DS fans, as Sakurai-san has revealed a bit of extra information on the portable version in today's Pic of the Day, finally showing us what the touch screen will do on the handheld during the battle. It's a practical if slightly uninspiring choice, and will be perfect for targeting particular foes in the heat of a brawl.

…You can highlight that fighter on your screen. This is useful when you want to get back at a particular opponent. You can also highlight yourself if you need to keep better track of where you are. This is a great benefit to having your own individual screen.

So there you have it. We're quietly hopeful that Final Smash moves or cinematic moments will dabble with utilising both screens, as an example, but this does seem like a sensible, intuitive use of the touch screen. Let us know what you think.

Welsh ex-pat Tom is responsible for the day-to-day running of the site. He's the guy to thank for the generally brilliant nature of the content which massages your eyeballs on a daily basis. Also has an unhealthy obsession with all things Bowser.

Nice, I always liked seeing the damage output. Although this is bad for players with a lot of damage, it adds a good amount of strategy needed that it seemed like the 3DS version may have missed out on.

Nice, little extra. It's something to set the handheld Smash Bros. apart. This will be useful when picking out which of your opponents is the most damaged and then go after him or her for the easiest KO.

Might come in handy when coordinating in online MP IF your teammate gets to see the signal that is. Other than that, i dont see the use of the targeting system, as the characters are wuite distinguishable from each other.Keeping the HUD clean and putting the %counter on the bottom screen is a wise choice though. Its keeps the tiny screen from being cluttered and the numbers better readable. A second screen not under or overused. Nice choice

Uninspiring choice? It's a fighting game, what do you expect there more to be? (Please don't say an icon to touch for it to perform a move command. .) People won't have time to fiddle with their stylus and touch screen during the fast-paced action if there were more to utilise on it. It's perfect to just glance at the bottom for a second then at the top.

Yea, this is more use than I expected out of it. It's good thinking. I don't know what else we could want from a touch screen in a fighting game, particularly one that doesn't use complex commands for special moves (SFIV had touch screen shortcuts).

Regarding singling someone out online, he is talking about something specific there. There arose a trend in online Brawl where three players would join a match together, then everyone just sits still while one of them attacks the random fourth guy, and swap out if you're doing well, so they all focus on the same target all match. Basically, they're complete jerks who don't like fun. I don't understand how this became popular. This new feature helps you identify someone you feel is a legitimate threat when things get chaotic.

Seems like a wise move and a good design choice to combat potential readability issues on the smaller screens.looking forward to the 3ds version more than the wii u one personally, something about playing smash on handheld seems decidedly 'next generation' to me.just hope it's mid summer as opposed to right at the end like in august or something.

This is a sweet addition, and more than I expected the touch screen to be used for. It's not uninspired in my opinion at all. Also I would hate having to switch to touch screen controls to perform a final smash.

I like it. It's simple and is something you can ignore if you need to, meaning you don't have to try and focus on the touch screen during play. In some larger levels it might be easier to find yourself (my wife hated New Pork City because she'd get lost when it zoomed out). I think this works well.

@Justaguest The fact that it's on a portable. They're spending a great deal of time polishing the look. Even the screen shots show that they didn't just shrink down the game, they made the characters stand out for a smaller screen. Where once you could only play the game in front of a TV, now you'll be able to play it on the go. That's enough for me to get excited about, on top of the attention to detail and polish.

@SockoMario I don't know, a portable smash with (albeit very noticeably) worser graphics doesn't feel like an inferior version. Same characters... Same items... Specialized stages.... 3ds has more (announced) modes (smash run) and both have online. I'm looking forward to the 3ds version! And maybe the Wii u version, if I buy one.

@Xtremetdifan Sakurai said if an item is on the Wii U version, but can't be recreated on the 3DS version, it will be left out of that version. And I'm pretty sure the Wii U version will have stages and modes, considering the Wii U has more storage than a 3DS.

And no, the 3DS version ISN'T the inferior version JUST because of the graphics. There's more to it than just that. Smash was meant to be played with a controller on a TV. Not some small rectangle with very small buttons and extremely small screen. And because of that, the 3DS might have clunky controls. Also, who wants to play Smash Bros. on the smallest screen possible?

It might sound like I'm not looking forward to the 3DS version, which is not true. I'm looking forward to both version, and I'm planning on buying both versions as well.

Does anyone remember Spectrobes? I know it doesn't have to do with the article, but i'd love to see a new Spectrobe game for the 3DS and Wii U with 2 new main characters, or even being able to customize your 2 main characters.

People have said all sorts of bad things about the graphics on Yoshi's New Island ever since it was announced, and yet somehow Smash Bros 3DS gets a free pass. Seriously, the visuals on this one look positively underwhelming, especially in comparison with the crispness of the Wii U version. Of course, the gameplay will almost definitely end up being awesome, but it's still curious for me.

I think the graphics on Yoshi's New Island, are quite alright, by the way. They feel exactly like a modern rehash of the original SNES graphics, which were awesome in the first place.